Jeff Smith for Missouri

Press contact: Jeffsmith2006@gmail.com

August 25, 2009

Today, with great sadness and regret, I am resigning from the Missouri Senate.

During my 2004 Congressional race, I became aware of an independent effort to produce two mailers to benefit my campaign. Federal campaign finance law prohibits specific coordination between a campaign and anyone preparing an independent expenditure.

When the independent operator requested funding, I authorized a close friend to raise money for the effort, and my press secretary provided public information about my opponent’s voting record. I withheld my knowledge of these facts during the Federal Election Commission’s 2004 investigation, misleading investigators and filing a false affidavit.

The FEC cleared our campaign of wrongdoing. But in 2009, the government received new information and reopened its investigation. When questioned, I stood by our 2004 account and encouraged my close friend to do so, misleading the authorities. Today I am taking full responsibility for my mistakes, and have pled guilty to obstructing justice.

This event has humbled me. I have done some significant introspection and that has been the hardest part: coming to terms with my own poor judgments and mistakes.

I apologize to my constituents, my staff, my Senate colleagues, my supporters, and to Congressman Carnahan. I am sorry to be leaving an institution I dearly love and the chance to represent a City with so much potential. Most importantly, I apologize to my family for not living up to what you expect of me, or what I expect of myself.

But I’m proud of my work in the Senate. With the help of my legislative staff, colleagues, and issue advocates, I believe I positively impacted several policy areas. I worked to create the Missouri Teaching Fellows Program to bring top-notch teachers to struggling school districts, expanded early childhood education for impoverished City children, and helped add $5M in bonuses to the salaries of City teachers whose students make exceptional academic progress.

My office spent many hours working with advocates for eco-friendly policies. I led the drive to pass a Green Sales Tax Holiday for energy-efficient appliances, a tax deduction for home energy audits, and a mandate that Missouri increase its energy efficiency standard for state buildings.

Working with the Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, I sponsored and passed two bills that will transform our child-support system. One will help fathers struggling to pay child support avoid felony convictions and jail time by creating “fathering courts” to help non-violent offenders find jobs and resume support payments, saving the state millions in incarceration costs. The second will reduce erroneous paternity judgments and ensure that men with DNA tests showing non-paternity will no longer have to pay for children who are not theirs.

Finally, I helped successfully defend Missouri’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit, which has done more than any other program to revitalize formerly dilapidated urban neighborhoods, creating jobs and putting abandoned buildings back onto the tax rolls.

I hope that my Senate tenure, albeit brief, is remembered as productive and beneficial to those I served. I thank my colleagues with whom I worked on the above as well as my trusted and loyal aides: Stacy Morse, Christine Brauner, Johnny Little, and Kailey Burger.

I am saddened by the thought that some may give up on politics because I let them down. I was blessed to have so many amazing volunteers who worked to support me with no political experience and developed a passion for activism through their work. Today I fear that some of them – some of you – may feel as if your efforts were in vain. But they were not.

If you helped in my election to office, my 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair, my MLK Jr. Blvd. cleanup, or other programs I promoted, please don’t let my mistakes sour you on active civic involvement. There are no perfect people and no perfect candidates, but I hope you’ll find a candidate or a cause in which you believe and fight for it with the same zeal you fought for me. Because the real tragedy of my lapses would be if they discouraged people like you from civic engagement.

Mary Pickford once said that failure is not falling down but staying down. I won’t run for office again, but I’ll stay active in the causes that animate me – from urban education to preserving historic neighborhoods to providing health care for all – to try and help the City I love continue its return to the glory of its past.

Thank you for being a part of my life the last few years. I deeply regret the mistakes that have forced my resignation, but I hope you will balance them against the totality of my service, and that we can work together again in the future.

Best,

Jeff

“Derek Collins is a remarkable young man who will be a valuable student representative on the Harris-Stowe State University Board of Regents,” Sen. Smith said. “During his academic career at both Forest Park Community College and Harris-Stowe, he has demonstrated great leadership and academic success and I know will serve his fellow students well.”

Collins is majoring in business administration and expects to graduate next spring. During his college tenure, he has been a member or officer of several student organizations and was named to the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society in 2008.

The nine-member, non-partisan board provides an independent review of child abuse and neglect determinations and rulings made by the state’s Division of Family Services.

“Nanci Bobrow is an extraordinarily compassionate, knowledgeable and capable person and a tireless advocate for protecting children from child abuse and violence,” Sen. Smith. “I know her immense skills, leadership abilities, and wealth of experience will serve the review board well.”

Bobrow is a licensed psychologist and received her doctorate in counseling psychology at St. Louis University. She is currently the assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine and a psycho endocrinologist in the Department of Pediatrics at St. Louis University Medical Center, which is affiliated with Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

In 2008, Bobrow received the World of Children Award in Community Volunteerism presented by the Progressive Youth Connection and a Leadership Award presented by the National Council of Jewish Women — St. Louis section. She is the recipient of numerous awards and has served on several state and national boards. From 1993-2004, she served as the co-chair of the Missouri State Task Force on Children’s Justice and is a former president, board member and advisory board member of Prevent Child Abuse Missouri.

Bobrow will serve a three-year term.

JEFFERSON CITY — Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, announced today (5/7) that the Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved up to $594,464 in remediation tax credits to the City of St. Louis Brownfields Program for the redevelopment of property located at 500 North Kingshighway.

Brownfields are areas whose redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The tax credits will facilitate redevelopment of the property into a restaurant-entertainment facility and create an estimated 62 new jobs.

“In a time when the benefit of state tax incentives is being questioned by some short-sighted Missouri lawmakers, this beneficial and crucial program only increases my conviction that tax credits — such as these and the state’s Historic Tax Credit program — are working to revitalize city properties and bring economic growth to our area,” Sen. Smith said.

The City of St. Louis Brownfields Program is located within the St. Louis Development Corporation — the city’s economic development agency. The program provides financial incentives for the redevelopment of contaminated commercial or industrial sites that are abandoned or underutilized. Applicants may be approved to receive state tax credits for eligible remediation and demolition costs.

The state of Missouri Brownfields Redevelopment Program is administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

SB 141 Heads to Governor to be Signed into Law

JEFFERSON CITY — By a vote of 154-0, the Missouri House has given final approval to legislation sponsored by Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, to provide DNA testing in paternity disputes. Senate Bill 141 requires that a man presumed to be the father of a child must be notified of any civil proceedings used to determine paternity, and informs him of his right to contest the assumption that he is the father and to request a genetic test to determine his paternity.

“If DNA tests prove a man is not the father of a child, he should not have to continue making child support payments,” Sen. Smith said. “There have been many cases where genetic testing proves a man is not the father of a child, but is ordered to continue making child support payments anyway. Assuming this bill is signed, if genetic testing proves you’re not the father, you no longer bear financial responsibility for the child.”

In 2008, the state Family Support Division reported 33,810 children were born out of wedlock in Missouri, accounting for approximately 40% of all births in the state. The Division has a total of nearly 360,000 cases, seven percent of which required action to determine paternity.

Under SB 141, the court is required to grant relief and set aside the previous judgment of paternity and child support if a genetic test disproves paternity. The court also must eliminate all remaining child support payments, wipe out any criminal non-support charges, and order the Department of Health and Senior Services to modify the child’s birth certificate. The bill does not allow the man to be reimbursed for any child support payments made under a previous judgment.

“Other states have passed laws freeing men from financial obligations if they find they were deceived into parenthood,” said Smith. “If a non-biological father wants to continue supporting the child and wants to maintain the relationship, that’s wonderful, but he should not be forced to support someone else’s child.”

Senate Bill 141 will be sent to the governor to be signed into law.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Harris Stowe State University, Emerson Theatre
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

The forum seeks to engage various community leaders, clergy, elected officials, administrators and others on their perspectives as to the challenges facing education in urban communities. Panelists will present a variety of viewpoints on the issues.

Dr. Kelvin Adams (Superintendent, St. Louis Public Schools)
Mary Armstrong (AFT Local 420 President)
Dr. Benjamin Chavis(Co-Chairman, Hip-Hop Summit Action Network)
Kevin Chavous (National Reform Author and Activist)
Missouri State Representative T.D. El-Amin (57th District)
Aaron North (Exec. Director, Missouri Charter Public School Assn.)
Mayor Alvin Parks (City of East St. Louis, IL)
Rev. Horace Sheffield (Detroit, MI)
Earl Simms (State Coordinator, Children Education Alliance)
Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith (4th District)
Joe Williams (Exec. Director, Democrats for Education Reform)

Radio station Hot 104.1 FM will be broadcasting live from the event.
On- air host Demetrius Johnson will moderate the panel discussion.

On Friday, April 17th, there will be a march of concerned citizens to call attention to the issue of urban education. The march will be led by Rev. Horace Sheffield and DFER chairman Kevin Chavous and include many of the panelists above.

The march begins at St. Louis City Hall at 10:00 AM and proceeds to the offices of St. Louis Public Schools.

Sen. Smith’s Amendment Expands Care to 10,000 Children

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Senate late last night rejected an amendment offered by Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, which would have expanded health care coverage for an estimated 10,000 Missouri children under the State Children’s Health Insurance program, or S-CHIP. Sen. Smith offered his amendment during debate on House Bill 11, an appropriations bill funding the Missouri Department of Social Services. The amendment failed on a mostly party-line vote, with all present (21 of 23 total) Senate Republicans rejecting the effort to provide health care to thousands of needy children.

“This measure would have cost each family in Missouri about one-half penny a day, or about two dollars each year to provide health care to ten thousand Missouri children,” Sen. Smith said. “We’re debating a 23-billion dollar state budget and I’m asking for less than 6-million dollars to make sure our children don’t fall through the cracks and go without health care. Also, the federal government would send us nearly $3 for every $1 we spend on this. I think this is a wise expenditure, since our federal tax dollars are currently going to subsidize the expansion of children’s health care in states like Massachusetts and New York.”

Sen. Smith’s amendment would have eliminated S-CHIP premiums for families at up to 185% of the federal poverty level.

“I’m trying to give the struggling mom with two kids some peace of mind by making sure her children receive the health care services they need,” Sen. Smith said. “It seems like the compassionate, common-sense thing to do.”

Jefferson City — Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, announced that the Missouri Foundation for Health will provide funding to two groups in St. Louis to help cover their ongoing costs.

Women’s Support and Community Services, a.k.a. Safe Connections, will receive $121,695. The group works to increase awareness of violence against women among college students through campus-wide efforts, interactive group settings and other methods.

“These are both great organizations that provide much-needed services to our community,” Sen. Smith said. “I thank the Missouri Foundation for Health Board of Directors for their commitment to bettering the lives of so many Missourians.”

JEFFERSON CITY — Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, announced that Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments, 5030 McRee Ave., St. Louis, has been approved for $125,000 in tax credits from the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Assistance Program.

The funds will be directed to the renovation of a new facility in St. Louis County for outreach and expansion of services. Delta Gamma provides comprehensive early intervention services for infants and toddlers who are blind or visually impaired and their families, including education and orientation and mobility services; therapy services for children with complex development challenges; and an array of family support services.

Renovations to the facility will include state-of-the-art adaptive classrooms, four libraries for parent education, technology, development toys, and a community meeting room for training, meetings, and family support activities.

The Missouri Neighborhood Assistance Program provides assistance to enable community-based organizations to implement community or neighborhood projects in the areas of community service, education, crime prevention, job training and physical revitalization.

SB 141 Restores Fairness to Questions of Paternity

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Senate today approved a measure sponsored by Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, to provide DNA testing in paternity disputes. Senate Bill 141 requires that any presumed father must be notified of any civil proceedings used to determine paternity, informs him of his right to contest the presumption of paternity and request genetic testing, and eliminates child support arrearage for non-fathers.

“If a man is determined through DNA testing not to be the father of a child, he should not be forced to continue making child support payments,” Sen. Smith said. “We’ve seen several instances where genetic testing proves a man is not the biological father of a child, but the court orders him to continue making child support payments. So this bill is simply a matter of fairness.”

In 2008, the state Family Support Division reported 33,810 children were born out of wedlock in Missouri, accounting for approximately 40% of all births in the state. Seven percent of all cases required action to determine paternity.

“A number of states like Florida, Georgia and Ohio have already passed laws freeing men from financial obligations if they find they were deceived into parenthood,” Sen. Smith said. “If a non-biological father wants to continue supporting the child and wants to maintain that relationship, that’s wonderful, but he should not be forced to support someone else’s child.”

Senate Bill 141 now moves to the House for consideration.